![](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/TVZSGvLjASe_p2YyPQsf35Ntip0=/750x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fcf-images.ap-southeast-2.prod.boltdns.net%2Fv1%2Fstatic%2F664969388001%2F78b50503-c8fc-4b78-afc0-4b5f6b926b75%2F5b8ede81-3384-414b-89a9-b13d3ddc649d%2F640x360%2Fmatch%2Fimage.jpg)
The past 12 months have had no shortages of tragedies, heroics, disasters and world-shaking events.
Nine's reporters were at the coalface for all of them and they have shared their reflections on the biggest stories of 2018.
LEADERSHIP SPILL
The government descended into chaos in August, when Malcolm Turnbull was unseated as Prime Minister and replaced by then-Treasurer Scott Morrison.
![Malcolm Turnbull walking past Peter Dutton in Question Time.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/8_tEtxgXrkGU4W3S9O6wfjiVxkw=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F12%2F21%2F12%2F42%2F211218_turnbulldutton_env.jpg)
9News Political Editor Chris Uhlmann said it was "ludicrous".
"Turnbull called it a moment of madness, but it was a terrorist’s bargain - we will keep coming after you until we kill you," he said.
BANKING COMMISSION
When news of the Royal Commission into the Financial Services broke in November last year, 9News Finance Editor Ross Greenwood was part of a minority who thought a government inquiry into the banks would be too expensive and ineffective.
![A composite file image of Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer (top left), National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Thorburn (top right), Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn (bottom left) and ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott (bottom right) leaving the Royal Commission.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/O7v0sXZ94a-m3PKNHtEI2twvmxE=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F12%2F21%2F12%2F07%2FBanks-bosses-4way.jpg)
But reflecting back on the year’s developments, the veteran journalist said he was pleasantly surprised how the bank’s seedy commission-driven underbelly was revealed to the Australian public.
“As it turns out, the major banks and financial institutions treated the regulators as a speed bump, almost like a business partner that they would negotiate with and cut a deal with,” he said.
JAMAL KHASHOGGI
The murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi not only shocked the world – it also shone a light on Donald Trump's relationship with his Middle Eastern ally.
While the CIA reportedly concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did order Khashoggi’s slaying, Mr Trump has failed to cut ties.
![Saudi prosecutors have said a 15-man team sent to Istanbul killed Khashoggi with tranquilizers and then dismembered his body, which has not been found.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/s1LS-AFY_L9wncJ_EQZD7Wrlh04=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F11%2F23%2F04%2F18%2F181122_jamal_khashoggi4.jpg)
US correspondent Robert Penfold said the plot highlighted wrongdoing, not covered it up.
"I would suggest very, very few people around the world were aware of Khashoggi's criticism of Saudi Arabia (beforehand)," he said.
BOURKE STREET ATTACK
Hundreds of people watched on as Hassan Khalif Shire Ali drove onto the Bourke Street sidewalk, his ute packed with gas bottles.
Crowds watched, filming on their phones and uploading minute by minute updates to social media.
![Hassan Khalif Shire Ali carried out a knife attack in Bourke Street.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/7grps4i4xohCbP52rjJLhsDUJVY=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2FNetwork%2F2018%2F11%2F09%2F0911_bourkestreettakeover2pg.jpg)
“The sheer amount of video popping up online or being sent directly to the newsroom was astounding. It was confronting and graphic and, in my mind, was what we refer to as ‘citizen journalism’ at its finest,” Mark Santomartino said.
Shire Ali injured two people and killed a third, popular restaurateur Sisto Malaspina.
EURYDICE DIXON
Eurydice Dixon was just a few hundred metres from her flat in Carlton North when she was raped and murdered in the early hours of June 13.
Just hours earlier, the up-and-coming comedian performed a successful stand-up gig at the Highlander Bar in the CBD and said goodbye to a friend at Flinders Street Station.
![Eurydice Dixon was an up-and-coming star on the comedy circuit.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/4D9llzy4gLtdVw9aTIId8UQplZ8=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F12%2F28%2F10%2F58%2F2812_eurydice8.jpg)
9News US correspondent and former Melbourne crime reporter Alexis Daish believes the reason Ms Dixon’s murder had such deep effect on the public is common to the killings of Jill Meagher, Renea Lau and Masa Vukotic - the randomness of it.
"The vigil for Eurydice was like nothing I’d experienced before in terms of the scale and also the silence – for a few moments, a big open park was filled with hundreds and hundreds of souls in the very place one woman lost her life days prior," Daish said.
HURRICANE FLORENCE
It wasn't just the deadly force that made Hurricane Florence a global story, but its sheer size and strength struck fear into people everywhere.
Those watching it from their TV screens can recall terrifying scenes of people evacuating as floods and torrential rain set in.
![This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Florence on the eastern coast of the United States.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/x0TQx6szOTIt3ikB4vBUbPvGIAk=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F09%2F16%2F04%2F35%2F180915_hurricane_florence3.jpg)
For those on the ground the reality was hellish.
"I've covered hurricanes and cyclones here and back in Australia, some were bigger, but none were louder," Nine's US correspondent Charles Croucher said.
NOVICHOK 2.0
Amelia Adams was about to go live on air to the Today show when a BBC journalist gave her a thumbs up and whispered “it’s Novichok”.
It was July, and the 9News Europe Correspondent was in Salisbury, in England’s south-west, a city that had garnered the world’s attention over the past five months.
![A second Novichok attack caused a stir in the UK.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/GK79vpmZwLGGXCqAIOrYDaLoocc=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F07%2F06%2F02%2F11%2F180706amesbury.jpg)
Adams was covering the unfolding story of a second poisoning in the historic and stunning town and couldn’t believe two people had once again fallen ill in such a violent way.
“It seemed unthinkable that more people could have been contaminated five months after the Skripal attack,” Adams says.
GREEK FIRE
Wildfires broke out in Greece in the coastal town of Attica, north of Athens, in mid-July, and as the mercury climbed, so too did the blaze.
9News Europe correspondent Michael Best travelled to Mati, a sea-side village east of Athens teeming with tourists in the middle of summer – and what awaited him was a scene of desolation.
![The speed with which the blaze northeast of Athens spread took many by surprise, and is believed to have contributed to the high death toll. Picture: EPA](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/k4zPODFmmlj6PQEO7bcCP-LoDx0=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F07%2F26%2F05%2F17%2F180725_greecefires.jpg)
“The scale and extent of the devastation in Mati was staggering,” Best reflects.
“Myself and bureau cameraman Andrew Greaves arrived while people were still wandering around, looking for neighbours, friends and family and trying to assess what and who they’d lost.”
MARGARET RIVER MASSACRE
It was the horrific mass shooting that rocked a nation.
Seven members of the same family, including four young children, found dead on May 11 at a rural hobby farm near Margaret River in Western Australia.
![Seven members of the same family were found dead on May 11 at Margaret River.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/LEXei6xTYmPPA4OJQ7K2H0CMLJM=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F05%2F12%2F18%2F07%2FMargaret-River-Family-Pic-2.jpg)
That’s all the information 9News reporter Hannah Sinclair had when she broke the story.
“Our job was to make sure people knew the shooting was a family tragedy and that police were not looking for a suspect," she said.
"That was an important public message that we managed to break before any other network.”
SANDPAPER-GATE
The ball-tampering scandal that engulfed the Australian cricket team in March led to a "corporate collapse" at Cricket Australia and left the public deeply hurt, 9News sports reporter Neil Breen said.
Television images on day three of the third Test in Cape Town showed Cameron Bancroft, a rookie opener with a handful of matches to his name, rubbing a yellow object over the ball before hiding it down his pants.
![Cameron Bancroft was exposed ball-tampering. (Getty)](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/es4SnEFMzMKBVEhEbH3uZ63kTtE=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2FNetwork%2FUtility%2FQuizzical%2F2018%2F12%2F30%2F10%2F06%2F181231_bancroftg_quiz.jpg)
Captain Steve Smith and Bancroft's press conference after the day's play, in which they claimed to have used sticky tape and pitch granules in a failed attempt to alter the ball, sent shockwaves through the sport.
"People knew they were aggressive but the sight of the yellow strip of sandpaper being shoved down Bancroft's pants was horrific for a sports fan,” Breen said.
SINGAPORE SUMMIT
The high-level meeting between the US President and the North Korean leader was something the world thought would never happen.
Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump had been engaged in an escalating war of words for weeks and, at one stage, appeared to be on the brink of war.
![Trump shakes hands with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island, in Singapore.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/XhA-brymSpuoXwWFPQbLfHhOAqw=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F12%2F23%2F06%2F13%2F181222_donald_trump2.jpg)
9News reporter Mark Burrows said it was remarkable the US President appeared to stave off a massive confrontation with this meeting.
"It was really historic," Burrows said of the summit.
THAI CAVE RESCUE
Twelve Thai boys and their soccer coach were trapped in the Tham Luang cave system in Chiang Rai for more than two weeks, mid-way through the year.
Miraculously, a team of expert divers from around the world completed the precarious rescue mission, and all 13 made it out alive.
![Vision of the boys was beamed across the globe when British divers reached the Wild Boars, and despite having already been trapped for days, the children were grinning.](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/JaxRxo9UhWcZOlJmqHvyrJE2Zks=/500x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2F2018%2F12%2F24%2F11%2F35%2F2412_thaiboy.jpg)
9News reporter Alice Monfries was on the ground in Thailand and said the thing that has stuck with her most in the past six months is the courage and strength those boys possessed.
“The youngest was 11 years old, aged between 11 and 16, and hearing from divers after that none of them cried, at the mention of we're going to be pulling you out through this dark scary cave. Just incredible mental strength," she said.